Educate Maine manages the Teacher of the Year program and selection of the Teacher of the Year on behalf of the Maine Department of Education. The nomination period for Maine's 2015 Teacher of the Year will be opening in January 2014.The selection process starts at the local level, where anyone can nominate an eligible teacher -- a teacher must hold at least a four-year degree and be employed by a Maine public school, including a public charter school; or be employed by a publicly supported secondary school (a private school that enrolls 60 percent or more publicly funded students, sometimes referred to as "the academies" or "the Big 11" -- by contacting that teacher's building principal/administrator.